Neyland Stadium Throwback

[zeppelin128]

This is a really great thread. I'm one of the thirty and under crowd, it is really cool to see all the old pics. Totally agree about John Ward, even though I never got the chance to hear him live. We had a very special commentator. No offense to Kesling, but they aren't even in the same league.

 

[ptcarter]

This is a really great thread. I'm one of the thirty and under crowd, it is really cool to see all the old pics. Totally agree about John Ward, even though I never got the chance to hear him live. We had a very special commentator. No offense to Kesling, but they aren't even in the same league.

Hope you listened to a little of that basketball audio. Dang, that just brings some really good memories back. Does me good to get a dose of that every now and then.

Some people say it isn't good to live in the past. But what if the past was pretty good??? :happy:

 

[ptcarter]

OK, here's a picture I found somewhere on the web. A picture of the hill (fairly high resolution), click on it and it should bring it up in photobucket, and there is a zoom tool in that should make it bigger.

This is the "hill" in the late 1800's or maybe early 1900's. Ayres hall isn't built yet,and the place where Shields Watkin's field (now Neyland Stadium) ended up is where those houses are on the left part of the picture.

Maybe that is Estabrook Hall, which is slated to be demolished soon.

Probably taken from about where the Henley Street bridge hits land across the river from downtown.

If they only knew what it would be like a little over a hundred years from then...

 

[chargervol]

OK, here's a picture I found somewhere on the web. A picture of the hill (fairly high resolution), click on it and it should bring it up in photobucket, and there is a zoom tool in that should make it bigger.

This is the "hill" in the late 1800's or maybe early 1900's. Ayres hall isn't built yet,and the place where Shields Watkin's field (now Neyland Stadium) ended up is where those houses are on the left part of the picture.

Maybe that is Estabrook Hall, which is slated to be demolished soon.

Probably taken from about where the Henley Street bridge hits land across the river from downtown.

If they only knew what it would be like a little over a hundred years from then...

Just great.

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

I'm glad the video of that game surfaced. I think it's obvious, but I've had a lot of fun reliving that game.

I hope this thread stays alive enough for some others to contribute.. I'm sure, somewhere, there is a wealth of interesting VOLS stuff out there. Perhaps, because it's sort of a dead time of year, Volnation isn't on people's radar much.

Glad I was able to help some. It was a great game. It's amazing that you got so many great pictures and that you found yourself in the game tape.

Anytime you happen to run across more photos from the vols past please post, I truly enjoyed it.

 

[MAD]

OK, I found another folder with some pictures...

I really need to slow down...

'74 Clemson game again. On the way to the stadium.

Love this picture. I was thinking about this, it was such a different time back then. I was just 10 years old, and me and friend were dropped off close to McDonalds on Cumberland Ave. and we walked to the game and met my dad back on Cumberland after the game because he had to work. That was so normal, I don't think parents would allow that today.

 

[ClearwaterVol]

Love this picture. I was thinking about this, it was such a different time back then. I was just 10 years old, and me and friend were dropped off close to McDonalds on Cumberland Ave. and we walked to the game and met my dad back on Cumberland after the game because he had to work. That was so normal, I don't think parents would allow that today.

Only different because your parents didn't know how many messed up people there were in the world. The knowledge we have today paralyzes us.

 

[ptcarter]

Love this picture. I was thinking about this, it was such a different time back then. I was just 10 years old, and me and friend were dropped off close to McDonalds on Cumberland Ave. and we walked to the game and met my dad back on Cumberland after the game because he had to work. That was so normal, I don't think parents would allow that today.

I think it's cool that you could stand at the spot where the picture was made, and see (parts of) the game. You can clearly see the south goal posts here. No way now.

 

[ptcarter]

OK, Off topic.. but since I sort of hijacked this thread, no apologies. This doesn't have anything to do with Neyland Stadium.

Here is a picture I took and I left it very high resolution for your benefit. (click on the picture and use the zoom tool in Photobucket).

Rose Bowl stadium, 1997. I just like this picture and it's one of my wallpapers.

The cool thing about it - Peyton was QB and I think it was Jamal Lewis's first game as a VOL starter.

Also, look at the names on the back of the jerseys. Many guys contributed to the 1998 national championship. 27 is Al Wilson.. Great day.

Youtube: (this is second half) https://youtu.be/VLQXAmRkc8o

I found the instant this picture was made and screen snapped the youtube video.

 

[Chilmonty]

Love this thread and all the great old school pics, thanks ptcarter!!! :hi:

[/QUOTE]



I also found another pic of you, also a little grainy! Hehe

 

[ptcarter]

Love this thread and all the great old school pics, thanks ptcarter!!! :hi:

I also found another pic of you, also a little grainy! Hehe

[/QUOTE]

My good side!!! :lolabove:

 

[MAD]

I think it's cool that you could stand at the spot where the picture was made, and see (parts of) the game. You can clearly see the south goal posts here. No way now.

My dad was a professor in the Physics Department and I remember him taking me up to the roof and seeing Nixon and Billy Graham give some kind of speech in Neyland, that was before the upper deck was put in.

 

[ptcarter]

Love this picture. I was thinking about this, it was such a different time back then. I was just 10 years old, and me and friend were dropped off close to McDonalds on Cumberland Ave. and we walked to the game and met my dad back on Cumberland after the game because he had to work. That was so normal, I don't think parents would allow that today.

My dad was a professor in the Physics Department and I remember him taking me up to the roof and seeing Nixon and Billy Graham give some kind of speech in Neyland, that was before the upper deck was put in.

I vaguely remember that. He filled it up I think. Can't remember the year.

 

[Coug]

Ahh hahaha! It'd be even funnier if he was all orange.

Sometimes when I look at older photos just in general I start comparing it to present time and I start thinking how awful it must have been growing up in those days. It's all really just perspective. When I was a little kid and I saw black and white photos I honestly thought the world was black and white back then. Like Pleasantville or something.

If time travel was actually possible and you sent someone from the present a handful of decades into the past with no possibility of return there would have to be some real mental issues developing from that.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Ahh hahaha! It'd be even funnier if he was all orange.

Sometimes when I look at older photos just in general I start comparing it to present time and I start thinking how awful it must have been growing up in those days. It's all really just perspective. When I was a little kid and I saw black and white photos I honestly thought the world was black and white back then. Like Pleasantville or something.

If time travel was actually possible and you sent someone from the present a handful of decades into the past with no possibility of return there would have to be some real mental issues developing from that.

I think for some the biggest surprise would be how little has changed.

We focus on the "big differences" like air conditioning, the internet and color photography, when in reality the biggest factors in our lives are fellow human beings. And we're not all that different, after all.

 

[45orange]

In my memory, the worst were the Wyatt/McDonald years. The Vols were just not competitive. Recruiting was very hard because the powers that be insisted on running the single wing. Doug Dickey changed the offense and revitalized the program. Bill Battle held his own but could not beat his alma mater while Johnny Majors was winning national championship at Pitt. Fans were restless and Majors came marching home. He was also competitive but did not bust over the hump. Fulmer returned the Vols to the national title picture along with a great quarterback named Manning. From there, most will recognize it.

Wyatt was undefeated in 1956. McDonald was hired for one year and was told so when he was hired

 

[onevol74]

I vaguely remember that. He filled it up I think. Can't remember the year.

May 1970. Billy Graham Crusade in Neyland. 125,000 there to see Nixon.

 

[GreveHaller]

First Game under the lights. Penn State. Sept. 16, 1972.

this is what the stadium looked like when I went to my first game Sept 27,1975.

I remember the last game of the season against Vandy and I was on the top row of Sec I with no upper deck above me

 

[tn4elvis]

My first game in Neyland was 1963. I went to every home game from 1964 - 1969. After that I did my duty to country and started my career which had me located outside of Big Orange Country. I took the Sunday KNS for years to keep up with my team. I did attend games when possible all through the years to include the NC game in 1998.

The question of how this compares to other down periods I would suggest you look at the 1973 -1983 as a direct comparison. In 2004-2014 we had a winning % of 55%. In 1973-1983 we had a winning % of 54%.

In my time period I have never seen a decade where we had 4 coaches as we do now. In 1973-1983 we had 2 coaches. Last 4 of Battle and first 6 of Majors.

I did a chart one time of the winning % for the 4 years prior to a coaching change and I found that CBJ was the only coach since 1952 to take over a losing team. The next worst change on coaches was when Dickey took over which is when I started going to games.

The Dickey turn around of this program was electric and took the campus by storm. I still remember the night late in the 1967 season when UCLA lost and we thought we would be number 1 and the campus and the strip was overrun with the students and folks from Knoxville celebrating late into the next morning. No social media just the student body needing a place to celebrate. This is the ride that I think we are getting ready to experience with CBJ.

When Dickey left after the 1969 season he turned over a team to Battle that had won 77% of their games over the previous 4 years. This was a major factor in how Battle won 86% of his games in his first 3 years. His last 4 years we witnessed the "Dooley" of the 70's.

Majors came in as a favorite son and had also won a NC. There was no quick turnaround it took years for him to return us to where we think we should be in college football.

After watching Dickey and what he was able to do I never warmed up to Majors as coach. This is also where I accepted I have no control of football at UT and what I thought meant nothing to the powers that were in control. I learned that it is a game that has no meaning in if I had a good year or not in my life. Don't get me wrong I love bragging rights when it comes to UT football but providing for my family is and was the most important aspect of life.

Glad to see someone your age using social media.Thank you for a well written post and a little history lesson for some of the young on here.

 

[Tacoma Vol]

Great pics guys. I love those old stadium and field pics.

 

[TN_Transplant]

First Game under the lights. Penn State. Sept. 16, 1972.

This is very similar to how I remember it when I first started going.

 

[GreveHaller]

here's a pic from the 1975 UT v Aub program. Check out the concession stand prices

 

[GreveHaller]

While this isn't stadium related, this is from the back of the UT v Utah program from the same year. Forgive me for the pencil marks - I was 11 yrs old and didn't know better

 

[TN_Transplant]

Wow, that takes me back. Remember when everyone would park on the side of the highway along the river and walk to the stadium? Man those were fun times.

 

[voskian7]

I Loved The Videos And I Don't Know About Anybody Else, But I Still Get Chills Every Time I Hear John Ward! Best Ever! Ewwwww!